Uncover The Age Old Drinking Myth

By: Katie Uhlan

Posted: 4/21/06

There is a rhyme all college students know. No, it is not a verse from Shakespeare - it's a device used when consuming alcohol and odds are you've probably said it before, like say last night.

"Beer before liquor makes you sicker, liquor before beer you're in the clear." Or maybe you know it as "Beer before liquor, never been sicker, liquor before beer, nothing to fear."

However you say it, is this true? Do you vomit, get sick or hungover from drinking only because of the order in which you consume alcohol, or is this rhyme simply a myth?

Some students swear by it.

"There is definitely truth to the myth," said Brynne Davies, a 4th-semester English major. "Once last year, I was at a party and decided to take a watermelon shot after drinking beer the entire night. I threw up almost immediately after and continued to for the rest of the night."

However not all students agree.

"My experiences with alcohol have shown me that any amount in any order can make you sick, liquor before beer, beer before liquor, if you drink too much too fast," said Karen Grudzinski, a 6th-semester psychology and HDFS major. "There was this one time in Montreal freshman year when I played [a drinking game] with shots of vodka, five shots in 10 minutes, then went to the bar and had two pitchers of beer, then went to an apartment and drank more beer, and I got very sick. But then there have been instances where I've drank only beer and been totally sick or drank only liquor and been fine. So basically staying moderately drunk without going overboard too fast is the only real way to prevent getting sick in my opinion."

According to Thomas Szigethy, UConn's director of alcohol and other drug education services, the rhyme is not true.

"Some people are more inclined to get sick than others," Szigethy said.

He also discussed the invalidity of many rhymes or tricks college students use when consuming large quantities of alcohol, especially those in curing the dreaded hangover.

"The only thing that is going to cure a hangover is not to drink so much," Szigethy said.

Answerbag.com says the phrase can be true.

"Yes and no. It all depends on the individual; their tolerance to alcohol and their level of intoxication ... a common mistake is that while teens or inexperienced people drink, they feel like the alcohol is not doing anything for them. Then, by doing shots or making stronger drinks, they try to catch up to their friends. As a result, they can go from a relative buzz to being belligerent because of the amount of time it takes for the alcohol to enter your bloodstream. By then, it is usually too late. The person may have the spins, vomit, black out, pass out or even suffer from further alcohol poisoning."

Dr. Janice Roberts Wilbur, the HEART program coordinator, said there are many reasons a person would get sick from drinking alcohol. If a person drinks too much too fast, if you don't usually drink, if you smoke weed and then drink, if you don't eat and then drink or if you spend time out in the sun and drink - all of these could make a person sick from drinking alcohol.

"If you are drinking a lot in a small amount of time it doesn't matter if you're drinking beer before wine," Wilbur said.

"The body can't take it [drinking a lot in a short period of time] so you get sick, it's not something you do," said L.J. Fiorenzano, an 8th-semester political science major and Heart Program Intern.
Wilbur and Fiorenzano agreed that vomiting is not a bad thing after drinking a lot.

"It's the body's way of keeping you alive," Fiorenzano said.
Whether this phrase is true or not is up to you, just make sure you have a safe and healthy Spring Weekend.